THE CRASH OF CREEDS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 448, 22 February 1890, Page 5

THE CRASH OF CREEDS.

AIR GULLIVER AT THE TEAIPERANCE HALL. Auckland, February 18. At the Temperance Hall on Sunday evening the Rev. E. H. Gulliver gave his second lecture on the social aspect of the “ Crash of Creeds.” He said that persons complained that the work of modern thought was merely destructive ; but that was only true to a certain extent. The work of reconstruction was impossible until they had exchanged the malarious atmosphere of sham and make-believe for a purer air, and were able to look around them with the fearless eyes of a simple truth-seeker. Then, and not till then, could the work of reconstruction hopefully proceed. We were born in an age of crisis and transition, and the parting with old ideas was always painful; but if we were honest we would recognise that we were called upon to decide between the old thought and the new, and it was only possible to be honest in an atmosphere of truth. The question was often asked What would be the effect of the“ Crash of Creeds ?” He would say that all men, even atheists, if there were any truly such, were conscious of an aspiration towards a better life than we see around us. It follows that when a crisis comes and we feel bound to get rid of tho old state of things, we look round us with different eyes. All things are changed, or changing; something is needed to fill the void left by the passing away of the old ideas. What, then, must we do? Two roads were open : on the one hand many were content to say that religion had disappointed them; that they could not say whether God lives or not,.and so decide to pass through life as simply materialists. Now, materialism was very well as far as it went; it could describe the physical aspects of life ; it could explain the nebular hypothesis and take us baeff in imagination to the cosmic dust cloud out of which philosophers have pictured the evolution of the universe, and .thus, in one way, account for all we see by the light of day and for all the wonders of the midnight sky; but to his mind this did not cover the whole ground. The power of the poet and the painter, the genius of ; Shakepere and Raphael, the soul-stirring influence of the Marseillaise hymn were not satisfactorily accounted for by calling them “attributes of matter,” and, therefore, materialism alone was an unsatisfactory theory of life. On the other band, many were content to say, “ I cannot decide these matters, but I must have an authoritative church. I will do as many good and intelligent men have done ; I will join the Church of Rome.” Neither of these courses was satisfactory. One marked effect of tho ‘‘Crash of Creeds” would be to cause them to take a wider view of lif 3. He had shown them how the use of the words “I believe” was naturally followed by the use of the words “I condemn,” and the history of creeds shows how cruel and brutal man can be while thinking to worship God. Formerly all science was fragmentary, and all phenomena were studied separately, and their close relationship was never suspected ; but now the various forces of nature are found to be only different manifestations of one grand force, which permeates the universe. The greatest discoveries of science show that there is no isolation in nature, that matter and force are indissolubly tied together,and in all their manifold disguises remain ever the same. You will say—“ What has this to do with it ?” I will tell you. We have seen Christendom divided into conflicting sects, each of whom seemed to say that it alone held a special interest in the divinity of Christ, while all the others held a special interest in “ the old gentleman. This old spirit was well expressed in the verse—

“ We are the elect—the chosen few; May all the rest be damned. There is not room enough for you ; We won’t have heaven too clammed. Now, with the “Crash of Creeds ” there comes a wider view ; we no longer look on one brother as a “Wesleyan” and on another as a “ hard-shell Baptist ” vve see all these distinctions pass away, and all these “churches” become part of the one Church of the Brotherhood ot Humanity under the universal Fatherhood of God, far transcending in catholicity, in charity, arid in grandeur all creeds or churches that ever were. Step by step the old order will give place to the new, and, by slow degrees, the nobler ideal will be realised. This thought should surely reconcile us to the pain and grief of the transition. Creeds in the past have kept us at enmity and apart from each other ; the dissolution of creeds will bring us together again, and form us into an army bent on nobler conquests than bistory tells of; conquests which shall make life brighter, and more beautiful lor those who are to come after us.